I finally found some time to visit Surat this saturday. Summary of observation is as follows:
1. Typical indian middle class city
2. Crowded, traffic chaos comes free like any other growing indian city
3. Textile market is quite huge and interesting
4. But you feel let down for being born as a Male - No choices !
5. Bargaining is advised
6. I liked these temples - Ambaji temple, Krishna Mandir
7. The only way to describe the attire of lord krishna - awesome
8. Tasted good food at - Lord's Plaza (buffet breakfast) with superb south indian taste
9. Tasted good food at - one small restaurent at ring road (kuoni academy building)
10. Auto fare is damn cheap...
11. Climate is regular hot - so dress cotton
12. Most of the shooping happens around Surat Station - so plan your hotel alongside
13. Shop keepers are service minded, willing to display as many clothes as you want
14. Carry cash as credit cards are seldom accepted
15. Photo link herewith - http://picasaweb.google.com/svijayganesh/GlimpseOfSurat
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
inflation and salaried class
Salaries class is no longer bothered about rising inflation. They seem to be complaining a bit., but no angst or anger, frustration seen in their mindsets. This is quite significant as the public is surviving with higher inflation for the second consecutive year.
These could be the possible reasons....
1. The salary levels has gone up significantly over the past decade
2. which resulted in increased cash or surplus on hand
3. Increased job opportunity across all sections of society
4. Lower middle class is able to absorb the shock
5. Below poverty line's voice is becoming very feeble in electoral system and worse as the could be involved in "cash for vote" during election time
whereas rise in price of Sugar could impact all the sections of the society. That is why i feel there is no significant push from government to bring the price down barring sugar. Let us see how it is going to be over a period.
These could be the possible reasons....
1. The salary levels has gone up significantly over the past decade
2. which resulted in increased cash or surplus on hand
3. Increased job opportunity across all sections of society
4. Lower middle class is able to absorb the shock
5. Below poverty line's voice is becoming very feeble in electoral system and worse as the could be involved in "cash for vote" during election time
whereas rise in price of Sugar could impact all the sections of the society. That is why i feel there is no significant push from government to bring the price down barring sugar. Let us see how it is going to be over a period.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Sensex outlook
One year has gone since the world markets made record lows and made "V" shaped recovery against everyone's prediction. Zero interest rates, easy liquidity, lack of other investment options made the stocks to surge over last one year.
What will happen for rest of 2010 ?
As for as Sensex concerned, probability of fall is more visible than considerable rise from current levels of 17k. The best of possibility of 18,500 levels and worst of prediction can be to 14500 for the rest of year. Sensex could top out only after further rise and is unlikely to fall heavily from current levels.
Rising inflation, hardening interest rates, excess capacity of real estate, lack of infrastructure spending could dampen sentiments. Disinvestment could suck further liquidity away from secondary markets to primary markets. So tread cautiously.
What will happen for rest of 2010 ?
As for as Sensex concerned, probability of fall is more visible than considerable rise from current levels of 17k. The best of possibility of 18,500 levels and worst of prediction can be to 14500 for the rest of year. Sensex could top out only after further rise and is unlikely to fall heavily from current levels.
Rising inflation, hardening interest rates, excess capacity of real estate, lack of infrastructure spending could dampen sentiments. Disinvestment could suck further liquidity away from secondary markets to primary markets. So tread cautiously.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya - Movie Review
Simple story, few characters to play around, cliched issue of age / religion, nice music, good acting, lively dialogues, impressive costumes are all there in this movie.
Simbu has underplayed himself and impressive. Trisha as usual show cases her versatality. But the big thing in the movie is the portrayal of love, its feelings, and the impact on the characters. Awesome to say the least. Conflict of love and the reaction of the human mind has come out beautifully - in acting and diaglogues.
The big let down for me in the movie was - back ground score., probably too many songs which hamper the flow and above all Aaromale picturisation.
FYI - the movie had sub-title for the dialogues, songs in Pune.
Simbu has underplayed himself and impressive. Trisha as usual show cases her versatality. But the big thing in the movie is the portrayal of love, its feelings, and the impact on the characters. Awesome to say the least. Conflict of love and the reaction of the human mind has come out beautifully - in acting and diaglogues.
The big let down for me in the movie was - back ground score., probably too many songs which hamper the flow and above all Aaromale picturisation.
FYI - the movie had sub-title for the dialogues, songs in Pune.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Pune Camp
Pune Camp area is an active commercial locality - malls, shopping, hotels, pubs...and a typical MG Road :)
Locality is quite good, mix of wide and narrow roads.. mix of old and new structures...
Ram Krishna, PUne - Vegetarian restaurent - offers wide variety of indian food... one things stands out missing in the menu is - Thali or buffet lunch or dinner... All ala-carte for some strange reason... food, taste is quite decent... reasonably priced... cuisine is not definitely authentic, sambar is full of sweet, veg biriyani is awefully bad and comes with dark brown color.... But But But the other items like Pulav, Naan, Panner tasted reasonably well. Do visit and eat but choose your menu carefully.
SGS Mall - typical mall, no great shakes.
Kayani Bakery - Lovely, tasty biscuits. Dont even think of missing this place.
East Street Cafe - Nice setup and getup like some European street. Nothing more than that. You order Nachos... some readymade nacho with another readymade butter poured over it... come on guys, just dont take people for granted for Rs.150 !!!
Shoppers Stop - Great place for bird watching... shop at your own will :)
MG Road - little high end shopping, big shops, decent collection of jewellery and textiles.
and some glimpse of places for you....
Monday, February 22, 2010
Laxmi Road., Pune
Laxmi road, Pune offers exciting shopping opportunities for middle class. It offers wide variety of items like Bindi, ear ring, textiles and what not....
Fully crowded streets, best suited for general walking and buying.... Its closed on Mondays... so plan it out folks...
Only issues is finding parking lot. Once you get that, you are on roll... You keep going from one place to another, one shop to another for shopping with ample small hotels to fill in your stomach.
Some clips for you.... To quote some examples... Kala Chappens offers wide variety of Kholapuri chappals, men's shoes, floaters.... Some big bollywood stars like Nana Patekar had bought shoes here... Its run by Amit Sheth, lovely dressed person, offers nice service too. He is saying, they are exporing to USA too !
I found one more interersting brand of men's shirts called Ciera for Rs.425. Lovely colors, combed cotton shirts...
Have a look at the lovely looking Ganesha temple too !
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Trip to Konkan coast Dapoli
Onward Journey Pune to Dapoli
via Katraj tunnel, Harrisons Foly (New Wai), Panchgani, Poladpur, Khed
Return Journey Dapoli to Pune
via Veer (river), Shenale, Ambet, Lonere Phata, Mangaon, Mulshi, Pirangut, Pashan, Pune
Photo Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/svijayganesh/DapoliKonkanCoast#
Distance covered - 650kms with a hired tavera
Terrain - Mountains and Ghats with very limited plains
Self and couple of friends went around to explore Konkan coast. It turned out to be a memorable experience. The trip started off with drive through lovely Katraj tunnel - nice, wide and long one with good light. The drive in the hills of Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar was relatively peaceful but little strenuous. Mapro gardens was a wonderful place and gave us some relief. Simple garden with eating facilities. Also provides sneak preview of manufacturing facilitues through transparent glass windows. Nicely marketted i should say.
We reached Dapoli around 1:30pm (7hrs of journey) and went to SeaPrincess resort. It was right on the beach, quiet place with basic facilities. The lunch was very decently made and we went out to see Panhale kaji caves where pandavaas supposed to have lived. No proper route guidance was given to us and we took some round about route to reach there by close to 2h and 15m where as the return trip just took one hour or so.
The caves were interesting and were on a riverside. The caves offered glimpse of facilities, worship of lord shiva and was found in 1976. The caves were quite long and going interior and could take more than a day to visit each and every one.
We returned back had dinner and slept. Woke up early morning and went on a ferry ride. The ocean was quiet and the waves were generally subdued. Water color was not green and it was semi green with mixture of black. The ride was peaceful but we could not sight the dolphins. I was very disappointed with that but to my dismay the ferry ride of another batch over the next hour successfully sighted couple of Dolphins.
We had breakfast at Lotus Resort (group of Kamat) and it was a good property and loads of facilities. The buffett breakfast was priced at Rs.100 and had a decent offering of bread, eggs, idly, sambar, pav and misal. We ate and went on ride to Anjarle. It turned out to be one wonderful ride with picturesque locales of ocean, mountain, temples, eagles.
We went from Ganesha temple of Anjarle to Keshav raj temple which was situated in Ashwadbag. The temple was deep inside a forest. So, we had a scenic walk inside the forest for some 45m to reach the temple. One can happily medidate in that forest as there was no disturbance at all. We loved every bit of this visit due to its serene atmosphere.
We came back and had lunch at one of the villager's place. Traditional maharashtrian, konkan lunch cooked with normal vessells without any gas facility. Food was very nice - Rotis, chawl, dal with 3 different curry.
We returned back to Pune in different route which was less of Ghat but it took same time of close to 6-7hours.
Over all rating: Interesting.
Warning: Dont plan your journey time on kilo meters... it takes double the time to travel
via Katraj tunnel, Harrisons Foly (New Wai), Panchgani, Poladpur, Khed
Return Journey Dapoli to Pune
via Veer (river), Shenale, Ambet, Lonere Phata, Mangaon, Mulshi, Pirangut, Pashan, Pune
Photo Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/svijayganesh/DapoliKonkanCoast#
Distance covered - 650kms with a hired tavera
Terrain - Mountains and Ghats with very limited plains
Self and couple of friends went around to explore Konkan coast. It turned out to be a memorable experience. The trip started off with drive through lovely Katraj tunnel - nice, wide and long one with good light. The drive in the hills of Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar was relatively peaceful but little strenuous. Mapro gardens was a wonderful place and gave us some relief. Simple garden with eating facilities. Also provides sneak preview of manufacturing facilitues through transparent glass windows. Nicely marketted i should say.
We reached Dapoli around 1:30pm (7hrs of journey) and went to SeaPrincess resort. It was right on the beach, quiet place with basic facilities. The lunch was very decently made and we went out to see Panhale kaji caves where pandavaas supposed to have lived. No proper route guidance was given to us and we took some round about route to reach there by close to 2h and 15m where as the return trip just took one hour or so.
The caves were interesting and were on a riverside. The caves offered glimpse of facilities, worship of lord shiva and was found in 1976. The caves were quite long and going interior and could take more than a day to visit each and every one.
We returned back had dinner and slept. Woke up early morning and went on a ferry ride. The ocean was quiet and the waves were generally subdued. Water color was not green and it was semi green with mixture of black. The ride was peaceful but we could not sight the dolphins. I was very disappointed with that but to my dismay the ferry ride of another batch over the next hour successfully sighted couple of Dolphins.
We had breakfast at Lotus Resort (group of Kamat) and it was a good property and loads of facilities. The buffett breakfast was priced at Rs.100 and had a decent offering of bread, eggs, idly, sambar, pav and misal. We ate and went on ride to Anjarle. It turned out to be one wonderful ride with picturesque locales of ocean, mountain, temples, eagles.
We went from Ganesha temple of Anjarle to Keshav raj temple which was situated in Ashwadbag. The temple was deep inside a forest. So, we had a scenic walk inside the forest for some 45m to reach the temple. One can happily medidate in that forest as there was no disturbance at all. We loved every bit of this visit due to its serene atmosphere.
We came back and had lunch at one of the villager's place. Traditional maharashtrian, konkan lunch cooked with normal vessells without any gas facility. Food was very nice - Rotis, chawl, dal with 3 different curry.
We returned back to Pune in different route which was less of Ghat but it took same time of close to 6-7hours.
Over all rating: Interesting.
Warning: Dont plan your journey time on kilo meters... it takes double the time to travel
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